Cuneflow: An E-Paper Tablet That Records and Transcribes Meetings

The reMarkable Paper Pure, an e-paper writing tablet, is designed for business meetings, positioning itself as an analog space for thought, consciously pushing back against AI and digital distractions. In contrast, Cuneflow's philosophy appears to be a rebuke of this approach. Its namesake e-paper writing slate features a built-in voice recorder that transcribes and extracts insights from business meetings. The question remains whether this unique draw will be enough to prompt consumers to purchase it upon its Kickstarter launch.

Cuneflow is an A5-sized e-paper writing tablet equipped with an 8.2-inch 1,920 x 1,440 E Ink Carta 1000 display. A passive, pressure-sensitive Wacom EMR stylus with a button and eraser tip attaches magnetically to its side. Internally, it houses a 2 GHz dual-core ARM SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. The 2,450mAh battery is rated for 7-8 hours of continuous use, complemented by a 24-level frontlight, essential for usability at any time of day.

Security features include a lock screen password and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner for one-touch unlocking. The aluminum unibody case, weighing 230 grams (8.1 oz), is slightly heavier than an equivalent Kindle but offers a premium, sturdy feel. Paired with a brown faux-leather folio, the device projects a sense of high quality and class.

The operating system bears a resemblance to reMarkable's interface, featuring a sortable two-column list of notebooks titled 'Meetings' and a separate 'Files' tab for PDFs and EPUBs transferred via the company's web client.

Each 'Meeting' notebook provides a blank canvas for notes and doodles. The ceramic stylus nib is thin and scratchy, and the packaging notably lacks replacement tips, raising concerns about wear and potential damage to the display cover.

The writing experience is responsive, with minimal lag or display refresh issues observed during extensive writing. A persistent menu bar offers only 'pen' and 'highlighter' options. The highlighter, even at its lightest setting, can obscure handwriting. Adjusting pen weight requires accessing a somewhat fussy swipe-down menu from the top bezel. Overall, the experience is not as polished as that of a reMarkable or Kindle Scribe.

Each notebook includes a microphone icon that activates the slate's recording mode, offering near-instant transcription of conversations. A flashing red LED next to the USB port indicates recording. After the meeting, AI-generated insights, including a summary, timeline, and to-do list, populate a separate tab, taking a minute or two to generate.

For security-conscious users, audio is encrypted and processed in the cloud without being stored long-term. Cuneflow utilizes tools like OpenAI and Gemini for AI processing. Once the on-screen transcript is available, the original audio recording is wiped. The 'Insight' tab allows users to trace conclusions back to their source, helping to identify potential AI hallucinations. Editing the transcript is possible, but ideally done while meeting participants' memories are still fresh.

While the approach has a logical basis, it may not suit all workflows. Journalists, for instance, often require direct recordings of contentious quotes as proof, which this system does not retain. This concern is likely less critical for meetings with lower stakes.

Transcript reliability is generally good, though less common phrases can pose challenges. The review notes an instance where 'Phoenix Corporation' was sometimes recognized correctly but misspelled as 'Felix Corporation' on another attempt, highlighting the typical inconsistencies of current AI technology.

A significant drawback is the lack of integration between Cuneflow's useful tools. For example, the AI-generated insights include a to-do list with tickboxes, but these cannot be interacted with via the stylus or finger. There's also no straightforward way to transfer text from the transcript or insights into the notebook section for annotation or editing.

This lack of cohesive thinking extends to Cunespace, the company's web client. While meetings can be viewed online, transcripts and to-do lists remain inaccessible for interaction, necessitating manual copy-pasting of material into other documents.

Connecting a Bluetooth keyboard was initially a welcome feature, but its implementation is cumbersome. Users must open and manually expand text boxes within documents, with no automatic resizing for growing text. The inability to reorient the display to landscape mode is also a notable inconvenience.

These limitations can be attributed to Cuneflow being a young company with its debut product, as well as the inherent restrictions of distraction-free devices that sometimes impose deliberate roadblocks. Similar to reMarkable, extracting information from the device for traditional workflows is not elegantly supported.

Consequently, the reviewer expresses uncertainty about how these bifurcated use cases can be effectively combined to create a truly seamless experience.